Should it be Brophy or Burke up front for Scotland in Belgium?

So, who should get the nod against Belgium up front tomorrow night?

Oliver Burke, says Matthew Lindsay

I THOUGHT Eamonn Brophy did well enough on his Scotland debut against Cyprus at Hampden on Saturday night.

The Kilmarnock striker received limited service from his team mates during his time on the park so the fact that he failed to net was no disgrace.

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The 23-year-old will have learned from the experience and should collect more caps for his country in the years to come.

He has been one of the form front men in Scotland this season, has been tipped to win a move away from Rugby Park this summer and is obviously well known to his manager Steve Clarke.

Brophy could even feature in the Euro 2020 qualifier against Belgium in the King Baudouin Stadium tomorrow evening.

But I would hand Oliver Burke a start against Roberto Martinez’s men in the Group I fixture in Brussels.

And not just because the West Brom man came off the bench to score the winning goal with a minute of regulation time remaining at the weekend.

The national team are likely spend long periods of the game against the top placed country in the FIFA World Rankings on the back foot.

If they want to score against the Red Devils they will need to be good on the counter attack. So who better to play in attack than Burke?

He has blinding pace as well as the brute strength needed to compete with Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Kompany.

Brendan Rodgers started with Burke up front when Celtic took on Valencia in the second leg of their Europa League last 32 match away in Spain back in February for exactly that reason.

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The Scottish champions performed well in the Mestalla even if they were unable to overhaul a two goal deficit and progress.

Clarke should put his faith in Burke if he wants his team to pull off a shock result and boost their chances of reaching the Euro 2020 finals next summer.

Oliver Burke, says Graeme McGarry

THE fact that Oliver Burke scored a last-minute winner for Scotland against Cyprus on Saturday night shouldn’t be the sole reason he should get the nod to start in Brussels, but the nature of the goal does lend weight to the argument.

Simply put, if Eamonn Brophy had still been in the striker’s role as that ball was swung in by Ryan Fraser, then Scotland might have had to settle for a hugely damaging and dispiriting draw.

That’s not a barb at Brophy, who I actually felt performed reasonably well given the lack of decent service into him, but the physicality of Burke made something out of a cross that Brophy wouldn’t have gotten near.

The Kilmarnock man may well go on to provide another option for Scotland in attack, but the way that Scotland will set up in this game against the Belgians means that the power and pace of Burke up top is an absolute must.

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The home side won’t be sitting in, so when the occasion arises that Scotland can break, there should be plenty of space in behind for the West Brom man to exploit. With the pace in wide areas that Scotland also possess through Andy Robertson, Ryan Fraser and James Forrest, there has to be a decent target for them to hit in the middle too, and Burke fits the bill far closer than any of the other strikers currently in the squad.

He has his flaws, of course. His hold up play, as evidenced at times in his six-month loan spell at Celtic last season, needs work. And it isn’t always clear that his brain can keep up with his body as he tries to master the ball with the blistering pace he possesses.

But as Steve Clarke looks to sit off the game and then break at speed, Burke’s attributes for the job far outweigh those of any other striker in the squad.